53 Day(s) Late and (Many) Dollar(s) Short

Like most students who study abroad, I planned on maintaining a blog throughout the weeks to document my adventures in order to inform all my fans, whom I KNOW care deeply, about what a fabulous time I am having.

Is anyone shocked that this plan failed miserably? Ya, me neither. Combine my lack of confidence in my ability to be hip and trendy with this blog thing, with my strong desire to lay in my bed and watch Netflix when I have a free moment and you get this; my first update on my life in Barcelona. Only two months since arriving! Sorry mom, I know you asked for this weeks ago. But the way I see it is: if I did post every week or so you would be reminded more often of how much you miss me so really, I did this for you.

So, what finally brought on this spark of motivation you might ask? The limited 30 minutes of free wifi at the Liverpool John Lennon Airport, that’s what. I have found myself sitting in an almost empty cafe waiting for the gate for my flight to Dublin to be announced and I thought, “why not try to write something, I have nothing else to do”, which is true. One can only read a Nicholas Sparks novel for so long. It is Friday, March 16th and by the time I post this I will have (hopefully?) survived St.Patrick’s Day in Dublin. Fingers crossed I remember enough to write a separate post for this weekend (again, sorry mom) but if we are being honest, I wouldn’t hold your breath for that one either.

Back to the point. These past seven weeks have been nothing short of memorable, in every sense of the word. I have been lost more times than I can count, I’ve missed an 8 p.m. fight (seriously, who ever thought that was possible?!?) and I’ve continually thought to myself how lucky I am to be in this position. I’ve fostered amazing new friendships and deepened old ones. I’ve marveled at beautiful architecture (featured in this post, The Sagrada Família) and spent time with family and friends that I had not seen in over five years. I’ve eaten the most delectable food and spent way too much money. *Shameful plug that I am still looking for employment for this summer so help ya girl out so I can pay off my credit card*.

I’m not here to pretend that studying abroad is just one huge party, for some it might be, but my experience has not been exactly what I thought it would be. I’ve been working at an internship and this has given me a taste of what my future could look like. While others go out every night or leave for long trips on a Wednesday, I can’t because I have to work the next day. There have been moments where I’ve felt discouraged and cheated of the “study abroad experience”. It’s also in these moments that I am reminded , usually by the amazing mother I have already mentioned, how privileged I am to have this opportunity and to not take that for granted. She is, like always, absolutely right. I know that so many people do not get the chance to spend a semester in an amazing city like Barcelona, let alone get real world practice with have an international internship.

I am so privileged and I am so grateful.

I’ll wrap this up now because I am sure you are tired of reading my random thoughts, if you’ve even made it this far. Hopefully I don’t wait another seven weeks to post, but no promises.

¡Adios amigos!

Say “Hola” to the poor soul who has had to share some extremely tight quarters with me this semester- Shannon I would literally be dead at this point without you. Thankful for you, pal.